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My stepbrother.
“Whatever. I’m over this, and Guy’s expecting me.”
“I’m sure he is,” Khaos throws my comment back in my face with my exact tone.
So rude.
“If you can find it…” I move away from the shelf. “There’s a bag of rice up there somewhere. Put your phone in it for a few hours and it should be good. If not, my mom will buy you a new one.”
“She will?”
“Yeah, just say it fell in the toilet or something.”
“Why wouldn’t I tell her the truth? Are you being a bad girl by throwing a party behind the sergeant’s back?”
“Not exactly.” It’d have to be my party. “It’s a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ kind of thing. As long as the house is spotless by the time my mom gets back, she doesn’t pry.” She’s the one that designed it for entertaining.
“You’re gonna clean this place? You couldn’t even wipe up your own handprint.”
My cheeks blaze.
“The cleaners come whenever we tell them to.”
He scoffs, but it’s true. They’ll come tomorrow, clean everything up before the parents get home, and it’ll be like it never happened.
“Shouldn’t you get back to it? To your boyfriend?”
“I will. After I…” I go over to the drink fridge and grab a bottle of water. I hold it up as proof. I’m not here for him. I didn’t even know he was in here.
“You came in here just for that? You have a water fountain.”
I do not appreciate the constant accusatory tone. Yes, my house has a water fountain. It’s just that it’s in the hallway, where the people are.
“We have a water fountain. You fucking live here, remember?” I parrot, using his comment and tone this time.
“Why didn’t you just drink from that?”
“I prefer this brand.” I shake the glass bottle.
When he doesn’t stop watching me, I twist the cap and take a long drink.
Khaos doesn’t so much as blink.
Okay, well…
I turn to leave.
“Why’d you kiss me back?”
The water gurgles in my throat, and if that’s not embarrassing enough, some even sprays from my mouth when I pull the bottle away, landing on the floor with a plop.
Using my foot, I wipe at it, not soaking up any whatsoever, more so just smearing it around. I’ll make a note for the cleaners to get in here, too.
“Um.”
Under the weight of Khaos’s unrelenting gaze, I take my time wiping my chin.
“I had a hard day, and as you can see, I’m all out of sorts.”
